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  • Like Mahatma, like Tinubu

    It was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, well known to his many followers as Mahatma, or ‘the great-souled one’ that made famous the above quote and his entire life was a testimony to this. In another of his famous quotes, Mahatma said ‘My life is my message,’ and one cannot agree more because the late Indian sage lived simply for his people; millions of poor and oppressed Indians that he non-violently worked fearlessly to liberate till death.

    Today, few Nigerians aptly fit into Gandhi’s quotes more than Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the former Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Governor of Lagos state, now a national leader of All Progressives Congress (APC).

    His style may be a little different from that of Mahatma, yet they are very similar. He, like Mahatma, lives above fear. He spoke up and acted against injustice, and marched in the forefront to slap injustice in the face.

    In this regard, Tinubu has a rich history beginning from his days as a fresh face young man in the Nigeria upper house, otherwise called the Senate. He actually became noticeable here, and later spoke out in defiance to Gen Ibrahim Babangida’s annulment of the 1993 general election won by late business mogul, Chief M.K.O Abiola.

    When Gen. Sani Abacha came onto the scene and Nigeria was thoroughly beaten under the jackboot of military dictatorship, Tinubu’s voice became even louder. Just as another great man, the South African legendary leader, Nelson Mandela had said that, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear,” the young Tinubu did not seat back, he joined hands with the pro-democracy group, National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) and boldly spoke out against the Junta.

    He singlehandedly sponsored NADECO in the 1990s alongside like minds such as Nobel Literature Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Alani Akinriade and Beko Ransome-Kuti.

    So fierce and loud was the proclamation for democratic independence that the world soon joined in and the incoming Head of State Gen Abdusalami Abubakar quickly organized a general election and handed power to a democratically elected leader. History has granted Tinubu the boasting right that Asiwaju and many NADECO members put their life on line to rescue Nigeria from Military brutality. Nothing can change that.

    Former Secretary-General of Afenifere and ex-General Secretary of the National Democratic Coalition, Chief Ayo Opadokun, in a recent interview published in the Punch Newspapers, acknowledged Tinubu’s focus and daunting spirit to liberate Nigerian masses from the hands of dictatorship and set democracy on a smooth sail in Nigeria. He affirmed that Tinubu played a key role in the emergence from Afenifere of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and sponsored fully the registration of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

    His passion to better the life of the common people is nearly inborn and this, according to Sam Omatseye, one of Nigeria’s leading columnists and Chairman, Editorial board of The Nation Newspapers, who was with him in his early political days, propelled him to drive the campaign for enduring democracy from his London home in the Junta days of Gen. Abacha. “The story began in an obscure room in England. The ignominious fall of the Abacha junta foreshadowed a new era in Nigeria. Like bivouacking armies, the habitués of that room had shifted their tents from home to a stranger’s land. There and elsewhere in the western world, they pitched battles for democracy against an era of the butchery and finality of a tyrant’s order. IBB first represented it and preceded Abacha of the Gestapo, goggle frame and the fame of excited whores.”

    “The unravelled Abacha era meant it was time to go home for this man. Others did not trust the so-called promise. They doubted democracy would return. To them, it was a false dawn, shadowy with booby traps. Isolation and battle from a distance had imparted them with an awful comfort. Better to grieve and throw lobs of bombs from outside than risk the fates of the then lamented dead. Kudirat Abiola, Alfred Rewane, Bagauda Kaltho, et al.”

    For two years it is on record that Tinubu left his wife, Senator Remi Tinubu and affectionate mother in Nigeria, while working tirelessly to liberate his country form the claws of an unapologetic dictator.

    Even after he became governor of Lagos State, there were more battles to fight against the leadership of another General in Agbada and the ruling party; Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and like a true captain, he kept his shoulder at the wheel, he shove and pushed and again, he won. Tinubu, did not cow in fear, like other governors, he fought his battle alone in justice, and fairness to his people and Lagos was the better for it.

    Social/political commentator, Maxwell Adegbenro captured it well in his ‘One Man Tinubu In The Face Of History’. He described the APC chieftain, as a fearless leader of men. “In the face of hapless financial turbulent orchestrated by the government of PDP led by Olusegun Obasanjo, he turned the adversity to opportunities. Lagos State under him survived workers scare and later became benchmark for states in such precarious situation. Volumes you will agree it speaks of man who will stride in any venture he delve. However, his happy-go attitude wouldn’t go without inspiring torrents that spells across south west in human capacity; paving heavy way for purposeful leadership and developing leaders with quintessential service torch.”

    Mandela knew the attributes of a great leader because he was one. He said; ‘It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.” That much Tinubu has shown in his political voyage.

    As a politician of over 20 years and a staunch member of APC, I am conversant with the emergence of the ruling party and how our great leader, Tinubu, midwifed the new baby that is now the pride of Africa and the rest of the world.

    A master strategist, his suave political manoeuvring towers above the rest, and he exhibits good understanding of Mandela’s thought; that “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”

    In 2006, through the merger of the AD, Justice Party (JP) and Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD), he formed the Action Congress (AC) party, maintaining a lead role in the party. During the 2007 general elections, he regained all the states in the Southwest, leaving only Ondo which was controlled by the Labour Party (LP).”

    A man with immense passion for great accomplishment, Tinubu will never settle for a life that is less than the one he is capable of living. He moved on to orchestrate a merger with the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to form the All Progressives Congress (APC) with the broom as their party symbol. He lobbied top political brass in the country from all parts of the country to join him sweep off the second term agenda of former President Goodluck Jonathan by backing the ambition of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, a one-time Head of State with impeccable record of honesty and discipline. Asiwaju’s master stoke became the masses song of freedom and on May 29, 2015, Buhari was sworn in as President, 16 years of PDP reign over.

    Beyond politics, no politician, since MKO Abiola, has touched the lives of the common Nigerians, as Tinubu has done and for confirmation, ask the Director of Bethesda Home for the Blind, Yaba, Mrs Chioma Ohakwe. She would tell you how Tinubu and his wife, Chief Mrs Remi Tinubu, Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, have been supportive of the over 70 visually challenged students with food items, bus to get around, cash and gifts. I know this because I was chairman of Surulere Local Government for three years and the home is under my jurisdiction.

    I deliberately traced this path to clear doubt if there is any, about Tinubu’s tortured path to freedom. There is no doubt that Tinubu’s claim to leadership of APC and of the country at large is earned and should any politician toy with it, then thousands like me that have learnt under his tutelage that politics is service to humanity, should be able to ask the following questions.

    Where were they when Abacha’s bulwark lashed at people’s freewill to choose its leader? Where were they when Tinubu was using his resources to fund Afenifere, AD, and ACN? Where were they when PDP threatened to rule forever or when APC emergence was almost truncated before birth? Where were they when Buhari’s emergence as Presidential candidate of APC was almost killed at birth and where were they when APC toured all the states campaigning vigorously? Where were they when Tinubu became the cruel targets of the Fayoses and AITs of this country just to score cheap publicity? Where were they when snipers paraded the corridor of Bourdillon to intimidate him? Where were they?

    There are more questions and I leave that to discerning Nigerians who cried out for change and thronged out to take back our democracy. Surely, we cannot afford to look on as the same cabal attempt to snatch it away again.

    For our leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the Jagaban Borgu, the Bridge Builder between the poor and the rich, the voice of the voiceless, and the help of the helpless, I will simply calm your nerves with this line written by our great mentor; Chief Obafemi Awolowo. He said; “those who desire to reach, and keep their places at the top in any calling must be prepared to do so the hard way.”

    God bless our leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    • Ajide  is former  chairman of  Surulere Local Government,  Lagos.

  • Politics, public service, morality and integrity in Nigeria (1)

    The recent and indeed ongoing crude and barbaric conduct by our  legislators in the National Assembly, reminds me of the popular saying  “it does not merely rain, it pours”.  I thought I was confronting the  worst in Nigerian political misconduct in January 2011, when I gave a public address entitled, “Politics, Public Service, Morality and Integrity in Nigeria of our Times”  Infact, it has turned out that that paper was written in anticipation of June 2015 and Nigeria’s descent into stone          age politics.  I have therefore decided to publish the paper, whose time has apparently come.

    1.2         By morality, I mean up-right conduct.  The concept of Morals is concerned with right and wrong and the distinction between them1.

    In his book entitled Enforcement of Morals (1965) P. Devlin explains the importance of morality to the survival of any society.  He states that one of the essential elements of a society is a shared morality. If a society’s shared morality is weakened, this has a tendency to lead to the destruction of the society itself.  We have seen and experienced this progressively in Nigeria in the last 50 years.  The elevation of corruption to state policy during the regime of one of our Military Rulers has had a permanent and destructive impact on Nigeria.  Even if an act which is wrong by the society’s moral standards is committed in private and harms no one in the way of offence to decency, corruption or exploitation, its very practice weakens the shared morality of the society and so may lead to the weakening of society.  In other words, a weak link in the chain of society’s shared morality affects the over all moral standard.  Individual freedom of choice is an important value, but it is outweighed by the overriding right of society to survive.  Just as treason is punishable because it threatens society’s existence, irrespective of private moral or practical convictions of the traitor, society is entitled to punish and prohibit any act which according to the general opinion, is grossly immoral.  It is this incapacity of our present society to identity grossly immoral acts and to impose sanctions as a corporate entity, that is responsible for the rapid decline of our polity today.

    1.3         The Rules are simple enough.  The Western World derived its moral code from Christianity and we derived ours through our colonial experience and western education.

    The basic rules are to be found in the Bible.  Apart from the spiritual and Devine nature of their origins (from which the Western World parted ways long ago) these Biblical Rules constitute a fundamental standard for human conduct and survival.  The Rules contained in the Ten Commandments may be summarized thus:

    (i)     We must have no other god, but                                       Jehovah God himself.

    (ii)   We must honour our Fathers and                                     our Mothers.

    (iii)  We must not kill.

    (iv)  We must not commit adultery.

    (v)   We must not steal

    (vi)  We must not bear false witness                                          against each other.

    (vii) We must not habour a longing for anything belonging to other people, including their spouses, properties and so on.

    (Deuteronomy 5, 7 – 21)

    1.4         It is obvious that these rules, even without their religious connotation, constitute a manual for a stable, happy, peaceful and caring society.  This Christian ethos is the basis of politics, governance and public service in the free and democratic societies of the West, which are also subject to the Rule of Law.  All our Criminal Codes, Commercial Laws, Principles of Equity, etc, are mere comprehensive and detailed elaborations of these fundamental religious principles.

    1.5         My very simple and brief thesis, this morning, is that our society has become fractured and we are gradually degenerating into a failed state because we have abandoned these principles, which guided our collective and individual operations as a country, during the colonial era and for about a decade after independence.

    2. The Psychological Orientation Of The Nigerian Political And Public Service Elite In The 1st Republic

    2.1         What ever the differences they might have had amongst themselves, the political elite of the pre-independence era and the first Republic, 1960 – 1966, had one thing in common, the spirit of whole hearted service without personal gain.  Ahmadu Bello, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, and their colleagues all wanted to serve and sacrifice for Nigeria or their Regions in Nigeria.  There was not a wiff of corruption, acquisition, and accumulation of wealth etc, in the orientation of any of these great men and their colleagues and followers.  The only benefit they enjoyed in governance was to see Nigeria, grow, develop and progress.  Some of them (particularly Ahmadu Bello) might have been justifiably accused of being ruthless and oppressive in the pursuit of power or even of election malpractices, but once in power they all worked tirelessly to promote the interest of the people without a thought for themselves.  Ahmadu Bello’s service to his people transcended religion and ethnicity.  For him anyone within the borders of the Northern Region was his responsibility.  He distributed government largesse appointments, and infrastructural development to all sectors of the Region.  He however had zero tolerance for political opposition.

    2.2         Azikiwe was a charismatic figure with great oratorical powers.  He also devoted himself completely to the service of the people of the Eastern Region without any consideration for his own self interest.  His greatest offence was that he allegedly banked some government funds in his Bank, African Continental Bank.  Based on this allegation, a commission headed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Sir Forster Sutton, was set up.  Upon the allegation being established, Zik resigned as Premier, his Government was dissolved, and he had to contest fresh elections into the Eastern Region House of Assembly which he won by a landslide.

    2.3         Awolowo was a tireless work horse; “the man with a plan”.

    An enlightened political culture did not exist in Nigeria before Awolowo’s emergence as leader of the Action Group.  That phenomenon has also disappeared with his death.  What do I mean by the Awolowo political culture?  I mean, a legion of phenomena and characteristics associated with Awolowo’s political style, including meticulous research and planning, the adoption of an ideology and a programme for governance, principled and consistent position on issues and a determined and unswerving implementation of the declared programme.  In other words, Awolowo had a clear vision of the goal of governance and moved towards that goal inexorably.  All this led to the cognomen, ‘The man with a plan’.

    2.4         Awolowo’s Action Group was the first political party to introduce programmes into politics and electioneering in Nigeria.  This is accurately recorded in his autobiography.2

    ‘In the regional elections of 1951, the Action Group was the only party that published policy papers as well as a manifesto.  Dr. Azikiwe himself condemned this innovation, and regarded it as an attempt on our part wantonly to deceive the voters.  He was confidently of the opinion that policy papers were unnecessary and should never be published for the purpose of elections.  It was when a party has won an election, he argued, that it should essay to declare and publish the details of the policy it would pursue in office.

    This was the NCNC stand, and we described it as a demand on the voters to give the NCNC a blank cheque.

    2.5         Awolowo then added:

    “At every election since 1952, we had adopted the same method of publishing both policy papers and manifesto.  Our persistent efforts yielded dividend only during the federal elections of December 1959, when both the NCNC and the NPC for the first time emulated the Action Group (which was again first in the field in this regard) and published their own policy papers alongside their manifestoes.  As a result, the last federal elections smacked much less of personal abuse and gutter electioneering tactics than was the case in previous years.  Each political party strove more than ever before to win votes on the basis of the relative merits of its policies and programmes.’

    2.6         In other words, the Awolowo-led Action Group was responsible for the introduction of modern, civilized and enlightened election practices in Nigeria.  These innovations, creativity and resourcefulness were brought into play during the federal electioneering campaigns in 1959.  Apart from having the best and most well-articulated policies, the Action Group conducted by far the most effective and sophisticated election campaign in Nigerian history.

    Thus Awolowo brought into the Nigerian political environment, a culture of organization and discipline unheard of in Africa, which was comparable to the level of organization in the developed capitalist democracies of Europe and America.”

    Indeed, when Awolowo died in May 1987, The Times of London said in an Obituary that he was a man of great ability who would have been a great Prime Minister in a place like Britain.

    2.6         Because of the extensive degree of federalism being practiced in the first Republic, there was a high competitive spirit amongst the Regions leading to a rapid development of the whole country.  Thus even though free primary education was first introduced into the Western Region, this was quickly followed in the two other Regions.  This was equally so with regard to the introduction of minimum wage for  workers and free medical treatment for all persons below the age of 18.  Also in the three Regions, about 40% of the annual budgets was devoted to education alone as against the average of 5% of the budget as provided by the Federal Government in recent years.

    2.7         It is amazing how relatively enlightened our first Republic Politicians were.  In comparison to our current set of politicians, they were civilized, polished, honest, had a high sense of honour and integrity and were incorruptible. Could it be that the British political culture had worn off on them?  How does one explain such refinement and civilized political culture and etiquette?

    3. Nigerian Politicians: 2nd Republic – 4th Republic

    3.1         Nigerian politics and politicians, since the end of the 1st Republic have degenerated rapidly towards the bottom of the pit of infamy. Every passing generation of politicians, is succeeded by a more primitive and barbaric set.  The 2nd Republic (Shagari) politicians were terrible.  The 3rd Republic politicians were more terrible.  The present, 4th Republic politicians are the most terrible so far.  One common thread runs through the attitude, beliefs and actions of the recent politicians, greed, avarice, self-service and accumulation of wealth at the expense of the country.  There is a total lack of patriotism, or a spirit of public or national service.  They are in politics to make a quick fortune. In other words, the post – 1st Republic politics has been carnal, banal, mundane and pedestrian.

    The saddest part of it all is that the younger the politician, the greedier, more corrupt, and rabidly anti-social he is.

    3.2         With each successive generation of politicians and public servants, we seem to have become afflicted with a more degenerate class of humanity whose only propensity is to plunder our wealth and resources, oppress us, and reduce our country and society to devastated and chaotic conditions.  Whilst the rest of the world is moving on, we are retrogressing into the stone age.

    It is unbelievable that in terms of development, we were once at par with Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Indonesia.

    It is also difficult to believe that this is the Nigeria that Awo, Zik and Sarduna bequeathed to us.

    3.3         In today’s Nigeria, the ruling party must not only win an election but, must win every state and every seat in the legislature.  In the 1954 elections to the Federal House of Representatives, the NCNC opposition party in the West actually defeated the ruling Action Group party, by winning 22 seats compared to the Action Group’s 19 seats.  Can this happen at the federal level or in any state in Nigeria today? Does the PDP not always win all the chairmanship positions in all local councils in PDP controlled States?

    Any review of the Nigeria’s political history, can only result in depression for the reviewer; for the glorious period of our history seems so unreal in the light of our present circumstances.  Nigeria enjoyed a certain degree of political civilization in the era of the founding fathers of our country.  That has all been destroyed and trampled underfoot by our modern day predators.   Our civilization has been destroyed.

    3.4         Let me list some of the acts of depredation with which the present politicians and public servants have brought us down.

    As I have already noted elsewhere, in 2009, the Federal Legislators received a total of N102. 8 billion comprising N11.8 billion as salaries and N90.96 billion (non-taxable) as allowances.  Is the tax payer getting value for this colossal sum in the current democratic dispensation? Should 5% of Nigeria’s annual budget be spent on 109 Senators and 360 House of Representative members?  In other words, should 469 Nigerians gulp 5% of our Budget leaving the remaining 150 million of us to receive about N1000 each?

    3.5         President Obama, President of the richest country in the world earns $400,000 per annum.  The British Prime Minister earns 190,000 Pounds.  A Senator, in Nigeria, one of the poorest countries in the world, earns, $1,700,000 per annum.  It is absurd.  It is, as someone has called it, “a feeding frenzy”

    The Senate President is reported to be earning N250, Million quarterly or N83.33 Million per month, whilst his deputy earns N50 million per month.  The Senate has allocated N1,024,000,000 as quarterly allowance to its 10 principal officers, known collectively as Senate leadership.  Each of the other principal officers earns N78 million every three months or N26 million per month.33

                            All data on legislators salaries and allowances were obtained from (1) Business Hallmark Newspaper, June

  • Adieu, dear uncle Atanda Olatinwo

    Suddenly, the telephone rang and I looked at the number, it was not a familiar number, not any of the ones listed on my contact list. I immediately dismissed the call and carried on with my reading. A few minutes later another call came in, but not the number that I had earlier ignored.  I refused to pick the call as well since I did not want any interruption during my reading hours. The next call that came seemed to have familiar numbers and I hesitated a bit, but later summoned courage to pick the phone. ‘Hello daddy’, the caller said, and I replied quietly and asked the caller to identify himself. ‘Sorry sir, I am very sorry to disturb you, but I think you should know that Alh. T. A is seriously sick and he is at the intensive care at the Teaching Hospital at Ilorin’. Sick? How? When?, I asked all these questions at the same time.  The caller, out of panic just dropped the telephone. I sat down a while and tried as much as possible to put my thoughts together. The Sheik had not been known to be sick at anytime. He was the one always looking after the sick, the unhealthy and the less-privilege members in the family. What could have happened? Was it an accident? Perhaps it could be, as he was always on the road for one thing or the other. If not for the children, it would be for the promotion of Islamic religion, in the name of Allah, the merciful and the benevolent; I said to myself, let me really settle down and find out what was happening to the special son of Allah, Alhaji T. A Olatinwo. The Sheik was never sick. He was never in the hospital, during the adolescent years when small pox was rampant in the community, he escaped, untouched and his black ebony skin remained shinning until his death. As big daddy Aliyu Onaolapo (our biological father) was getting old, Sheik T. A never allowed papa to visit the hospital, and because of papa’s importance, his influence and the role of the Sheik in the locality, doctors, nurses and medical attendants were openly visiting big daddy at home to attend to him. But the mantle of leadership fell on Sheik T. A. after Big Daddy, Aliyu Onaolapo gave up the ghost in April 1963. But now comes this disturbing news about the Sheik.

    The news of his illness spread to the neighboring towns and villages a good number of eminent personalities visited the hospital. Meanwhile, I had been billed for major operation at one of the hospitals in UK, as a result, I left for the UK in late May 2014, in order to meet the operation appointment. This time it was not the usual visit for special medical investigation appointment. The last examination had revealed unusual patter of development (Spondylosis of the cervical spine) and doctors had advised that the situation should be urgently addressed in order to prevent greater damage. This is not a strange message coming from a medical specialist to a man that is seventy-two years old. I left the country at the end of May 2014 so as to meet the appointment for the Pre-operational checks and tests as the operation was officially listed for 15th June 2015. On Saturday 14th June, precisely about 1430hours, I had the first call from Nigeria officially notifying me that Alhaji TA was dead. Several calls followed thereafter to confirm his death. His death was indeed a big blow, not only to both immediate and extended family, but also to the nation at large. He was responsible for the establishment of the Islamic University in the ancient city, Offa (Kwara State). The family components and the community shook to their very foundations as the Sheik finally bowed out. The death of the Sheik, a community leader, the Emperor and the head of the family was to be accepted as real and nothing else but “REAL”. This undoubtedly reminded me of what Death stands for. Death will surely come to all human beings, what we do not know is when, where and how.

    For humans are merely one form among many which the world produces over and over again not only in everything that lives but also in everything that does not live drawn in sand, stone and water and death which I have always regarded as the greatest dimension of life, dark, compelling was now no more than a pipe, that springs a leak, a branch that cracks in the wind, a jacket that slips off a clothes hanger and falls to the floor. We all must accept death for merely and ordinarily what it is, “To part and never to meet no more until the Day of Judgment”. Adieu. Sheik (Emperor) Tiamiyu Adebisi until we meet on the Day of Judgment. May he be accepted to the greater Aljannah (Paradise).

     

    •Salaudeen A. Latinwo Chief, Sir A brother and a friend to late Alh. Tiamiyu Adebisi Olatinwo

  • comments

    “While frogs are eaten elsewhere, they are forbidden in other places. While some beings embrace Islam, Christianity Judaism, others embrace ‘nothing’. If by the Supreme Court judgment of the U.S. A. gay marriage became lawful, so be it. We should accept it as their new culture notwithstanding the level of its acceptability even in the U.S.A. However, such a democratic culture MUST NOT be forced on a country that detests it. One mistake the U.S.A makes is that (gay-association) is a democracy and must be allowed everywhere. No. Democratic governance is different from democratic culture. While gay has now been legalised in the U.S.A., and some other countries, it is optional elsewhere. But we do know that the world is spherical! Will that begin to change in the U.S.A.? From Lanre Oseni.”

    For Segun Gbadegesin

     

    Re:Change and NASS. ‘Uncle‘ Gbadegesin ; you always come up with nationalistic and thought provoking piece .Unfortunately most of the people aspiring to lead Nigerians at NASS to the realm of change are yet to be enlightened and weaned on the diet of change . Nigerians now desire and deserve deep -thinking leaders at the NASS and not self-centered plus patriotically careless representatives as we have now.”Good thinking, good product”. The world is waiting and watching .Please pray for Mr. President. From Ladipo O. David . Gwagwalada.

    If they need change  for Nigeria and Nigerians, why are they fighting, was that while we voted for them to be doing? They should put their house in order and end  these crises because we are suffering especially we poor people. Buhari should not allow anybody to undermine citizen’s right. From Sola Ajay, Gbonyin, Ekiti state 

    Great presentation is your article titled ‘CHANGE and NASS’, very timely too. The unity of APC members is Not negotiable in order to achieve desired change we all voted for and avoid mad (Mutually Assured Destruction) please. Anonymous

    “ACN is the major legacy party of APC with core progressive principles, with its achievements in the South west; it needed an alliance of likeminded groups to capture the centre”. From Ade Okopi, Ibadan.

    Sir, you may be right but where is South East and Southsouth in APC’s arrangement. You said there is conspiracy against Southwest, the Southeast and South-South what is against them. A war?  Anonymous 

    Those lawmakers that caused crisis in green chamber are the enemy of Nigeria. The crisis in APC over leadership positions is very unfortunate. The fracas was planned to distract government of President Buhari not to deliver good governance he promised Nigerians. Whatever their differences which we know are a quest for positions, let lawmakers make peace before July 21 resumption date in the interest of Nigerians. Nigerians are in expectant of change as APC promised during their campaigns; let not few people distract it over their selfish interest. All hands must be on deck. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia

    “Change and NASS” article is one of the most incisive I have read on the subject matter that I have decided to describe it as “The APC Conundrum “. The party played a deft one by dictating the list of principal officers to Saraki and Dogara. They smoked them out; you have said it all. Now is the time to cut them loose! How can Hon Dogara be ‘APC’ Speaker with a reported 39 APC representatives, as against 174 for Hon Gbajabiamila? On June 9, 2015, we witnessed change in Nigeria, on the floor of the House. I am so proud of those guys. Is it an irony that reactionary representatives from oil producing Akwa Ibom gave their decisive votes to Dogara? Anybody accusing Tinubu of empire building is a clown! There are two fundamental classes of politicians in Nigeria-Reactionaries and Progressives. We know where Tinubu belongs. Anonymous

    Its flabbergasting and in bad taste that for selfish ambitions and may be 2019 in view, Saraki and Dogara and their co-travelers could trade off their party and its change mantra. The bedrock for the struggle that endeared the people to vote massively for APC. Having fraudulently got their ways, to put salt to injury, wants to impose their cronies as principal officers at the NASS with a caveat they don’t want their rivals in sensitive positions. Really? So, NASS has become their fiefdom? What do they take Nigerians for? Saraki did not see PDP Deputy Senate President as a threat but has party members? There is more to it than meet the eyes. They should be told in clear terms that nobody is indispensable. Nigeria is no Kwara in his family’s pocket. If he is afraid of his past to protect even as Nigerians know his antecedents, we don’t give a damn. Nigerians need change and end to corruption. Be it known that Sarakis, Atikus and their ilk can’t be the president of Nigeria in their life time as their past would continue to haunt them. From Dr Mike.

    I am completely disappointed in Senator Saraki and his selfish group. I condemn him of betraying the APC and Nigerians that produced him as senator. That was never the type of change we voted for. Thanks fellow Nigerians. From Kwembe Ferdinand, Benue state

    Change and NASS. Do Saraki thinks, being a wannabe Senate president through in noxious means, will guarantee his selfish-2019-ambition? (Nigeria President)? Despite the hue, cry and rejection of his party, that he is not eligible to contest for the Senate presidency, he formed alliance with PDP and won curiously. Does that give him tremendous advantage? Did he think downgrading his party, which he ran and won under its platform during last elections, is the best for him? Or he left PDP for APC to pursue his Presidential ambition? But he should bear it in mind that, it’s only God that can give power to whom he likes, no amount of tactics, antics and teaks will earn him what doesn’t belong to him. With all these sacrilegious, obnoxious acts and tragicomedy from Saraki, I don’t think the change is expected to occur can come true. I beseech God to grant you new wisdom and increase your superlative genetic endowment. From Surveyor Amidu Saheed, Ifo.

    I don’t seem to believe Lawan was Tinubu’s candidate. He could have actually been Buhari’s or the party’s. The Saraki -led group only used that as an excuse to prosecute their shameful, selfish and perfidious act. Why didn’t they decide to opt out of the election instead of aligning with the opposition. Was that in the interest of the party? Or was it a case of cutting your nose to spite your face!? More questions than answers.  From Julia, Uyo

     

    For Prof. Olatjnji Dare

     

    The truth of the matter is that impunity took the centre stage of past administration, which is very bad and unfortunate .From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia

    Good evening. What is part of Western Region I.e. Mid-Western (Edo & Delta) now South-South. Are they situated after Niger Bridge? They are now part of Ibo Region. Why? From Prof. Obiyemi.

    Your story on the back page of The Nation, dated June 30, 2015, the processes allow unprofessional conduct amongst the workers and they are exposed to health related disease. From Max

    Sir, while Abba Moro’s perfidy was trending, I never once recalled the 2008 incident you now refer to. The joke is obviously on us. How many wonder bank founders are now in the state and national assemblies, and even government houses? In 2008, who was the minister for Interior? How was the issue resolved by Yar’ Adua? From Mikefe Tanno

    In the last week of May, Abba Moro in connivance with David Paradang recruited more than 5000 Nigerians mostly of Benue and Plateau extraction into the Immigration Service without employment letters. Today June 1, there is no money to pay salaries as the appointment letters of these new recruits are being backdated to read, December, 2014.Why is President Buhari so slow? Anonymous

     

    For Tunji Adegboyega

     

    Re: Amor Vincit Omnia (The Nation, July 5, 2015) Tunji,, going through your above piece twice for clarity, I was devastated like a victim of epileptic seizure. I arrived this now ‘turn-around’ world some 70 years ago. We, the grown-ups then knew that for a child to come into this world, it must involve sexual acts between an adult male and female until we got to Form 3 in a Biology class in the secondary school. Our parents then were so neat and discreet that nobody could ever suspect them or catch them in the at.. However, things have currently fallen apart with caution thrown to the winds by the current generation due to acculturation and bastardisation of our traditional religion with the influx of foreign religions – the latter that have adversely changed the moral and ethical standard of our people. If one may ask, where was it written in the Holy Bible that a man should marry a man without getting the Sodomic result?

    Imagine some reckless and lecherous parents sleeping in the same room with their children? Worse still, doing it with impunity! What then will be the future of such children? God and even the normal setting of the universe is against gay marriage. Were we not born to procreate? Have we even seen even animals of the same sex mating each other?. America with its always number one in all things has come again but this time, on a wrong path. Its sane citizens should keep on exhausting all necessary avenues to upturn this horrible and sacrilegious law in their country. And to those engaging in this sinful but destructive path in Nigeria, they should stop it and embrace sanity instead of being beastly in attitude. Finally, President Muhammadu Buhari should not accept any maneuvering from any quarter to tamper with the existing laws banning lesbianism and gay marriage in the country. From Ch. Soji Oloketuyi, 18, Ijabo Street, Igbemo-Ekiti.

    While frogs are eaten elsewhere, they are forbidden in other places. While some beings embrace Islam, Christianity Judaism, others embrace ‘nothing’. If by the Supreme Court judgment of the U.S. A. gay marriage became lawful, so be it. We should accept it as their new culture notwithstanding the level of its acceptability even in the U.S.A. However, such a democratic culture MUST NOT be forced on a country that detests it. One mistake the U.S.A makes is that (gay-association) is a democracy and must be allowed everywhere. No. Democratic governance is different from democratic culture. While gay has now been legalised in the U.S.A., and some other countries, it is optional elsewhere. But we do know that the world is spherical! Will that begin to change in the U.S.A.? From Lanre Oseni.

     

    For Dapo Fafowora

     

    Sir, good day to you, I read your article reducing cost of governance dated 18/615. It is very educative and interesting. I hope you have copied President Buhari and Lai Muhammed because this is their formative embryonic stage. APC must reduce to beariest minimum in governance. Thanks.  Anonymous

    Cutting the cost can be most effective if the spending of public and political of holders is drastically reduced to make those offices less attractive except for accomplished people ready to serve. Tackle ghost workers headlong and it will surely reduced 50% or spending. Today I can say authoritatively that there are no government offices today that do not have over bloated workforce to help boost the spending of their heads. Government boards of medical and education institutions apart from politicians in the military are the most corrupt and are mostly headed by traditional rulers, intellectuals and clergies of our dominant religions. Thank you. Anonymous.

    Amb. Dapo Fafowora, The Nation, June 18, well-done for your well research suggestions and advice. God bless you. Anonymous

    I was a student at FGGC Abuja when Abisogun Alo was principal. She was wonderful. She made me who I am today and I will never forget her. She was a kind hearted loving woman who called all the girls each to her house to tell us we could achieve whatever we wanted to achieve if we believe and worked hard. I was in form 1. That scene in her bedroom is still with me. I thank God for her life. From Sola Olawoye, Ophthalmologist University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.

    God bless you sir, for your covenant and humble piece (Reducing cost of governance). To deal with reality. A good citizen of this country need to be worried and concerned about the situation of our state. Equally Nigeria leaders’ need a rethink on this. Change of attitude is expected from them, by reducing their outrageous and expensive allowances and others. They should perform their functions with high sense of humor and exhibit the highest level of professional excellence in all their official engagement without being extravagant. Functions of lawmakers should be on part time. Surveyor Amidu Saheed, Ifo.

     

     

     

     

     

  • The awesome power of the President

    “I know only two ways in which societies can permanently be governed –by public opinion and by the sword” –Thomas Babington Macaulay.

    Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay, British author and historian, even at 24 had carved a niche for himself as an advocate for ‘good governance’. At 30 he was elected to parliament; but even at that, he did not believe ‘democracy’ was sufficiently self-regulating to be left all on its own to function. In fact, in a letter once to a Jefferson biographer, he jived the American Constitution as being “all sail and no anchor”.

    Lord Macaulay seemed to suggest that ‘democracy’ even as it is a guide, must be guided to achieve the effective management of the affairs of societies.  And just as it is dangerous for the ‘ship of democracy’ to be left anchorless, without harbour, so it is that it should be left adrift without a rudder!

    Many philosophers have argued that the ‘due democratic process’ alone may not always take democratic societies to the Eldorado promised by ‘democracy’, and that left on auto-pilot, the process may even be a ‘spanner’ in the works rather than the ‘lubricant’ at work to breathe life to the system.

    Thus a little moulding of the ‘democratic process’ by ‘public opinion’, some interference by the ‘party’ in loco parentis or even the occasional intervention of a fatherly-President, may be necessary from time to time to ease ‘swallow’ and to facilitate ‘digestion’ in the complex system of democratic governance.

    This may be why although Lord Macaulay was “against government by the sword”, yet he argued for “assertive -meaning ‘forcefully strong’- leadership”, which he said would be legitimate if it “earns the support of the people”. Thus ‘democracy’ –like ‘law’- is not averse to the application of reasonable ‘force’ where such is approved or condoned by the very ‘people’ in whom ultimate sovereignty lies.

    Meaning that a little tinkering -when necessary- with the ‘democratic process’ by political leaders imbued either with conventional or constitutional powers, is not the enemy of democracy. Rather it is democracy in action. And if backed by the very people for whom and by whom the democratic system is brought about, ‘democracy in action’ has the liberty to function even against the grain of ‘its own norms’, –whether those norms are enshrined in the ‘statute books’ or etched in political text of books!

    The ‘law’ –both in statute and in action- is only sufficient to regulate the conduct of elected representatives. It has never been sufficient to regulate the revolutionary or majoritarian temperament of the people who have freely elected their governments into office. The people can, even against the grain of law, re-mould, retain or altogether overthrow the governments they have elected to office!

    And since the people are their own ultimate sovereigns, they alone determine what is democratic from what is not. What is ‘democratic’ is not necessarily what Constitutional Law says it is or what political scientists say it should be; rather it is what the people chose to live with; – nor is it material that what they choose to live with is not approved by law or that what they choose to oppose is lawful.

    Said Lord Macaulay “The law has no eyes; the law has no hands; the law is nothing … till public opinion breathes the breath of life into the dead letter.” And maybe this is the reason philosophers of law like David Ingram argue that “Democratic majorities can (and do) behave tyrannically”, – a privilege which he said “has led many to conclude that democracy does not protect the rule of law”. It cannot; because the ‘free will’ of the people should always be superior to the letter and spirit of the law which it permits.

    The ‘rule of law’ is not to be protected in spite of the ‘will of the people’. On the contrary since laws are promulgated to serve the people, any laws inconsistent with the democratic whim and caprices of the people are sacred only to the extent allowed not by the Constitution, but by the people.

    I have related in my previous writings postulations which argue that “in a presidential system, the President –constitutionally- is not only a composite check on the legislature, he even exercises ‘conventional’ powers which are not contemplated by the constitution and yet which are not in conflict with it.”

    In fact many other postulates insist that a populist President can even get away with the exercise of conventional powers which are EXPRESSLY IN CONFLICT with the Constitution, provided that such liberty resonates with the whims and caprices of the people. He can for example blatantly refuse to implement a legislation which he has vetoed but which veto has been overridden by the legislature. Provided he acts in the national interest, the President’s belligerence would be aptly on the side of righteousness.

    And because this power is rooted more in ‘democratic convention’ than in the letters of the law, reliance on it is usually contingent upon a vibrant public opinion which not only sides with the President but which is ready to swim with him or to swing for him whenever necessary.  Several American presidents including as recently as Bill Clinton had deployed this conventional power to great effect to call especially erring parliaments to order –Clinton exercised this power even at the expense of a total shutdown of government of the United States for months under his administration. In fact in deference to the revolutionary anger of the people, a strong and daring President can even dissolve a manifestly anti-people Parliament –even though dissolution of parliament is not an action supported or even contemplated by the Constitution.

    The Adolphus Wabara National Assembly, after President Obasanjo announced in a national broadcast he had caught many of its leaders and rank-and-file red-handed in the infamous ‘Bribe-for-Budget’ scandal, was virtually ripe for such presidential over-kill, – if only Obasanjo had exploited the anger of Nigerians and the sudden dip in the public perception index of that assembly.

    And so since the law need not actually advance the common good to be legitimate, the morale is equally legitimate that elected presidents need not actually be lawful to advance the common good of those who elected them into office! “When the law will do no right” as Shakespeare wrote, “let it be lawful that the law bars no wrong”!

    In a presidential democracy, a president whose ‘unconstitutional’ actions or intentions are in total synch with the will of the majority needs not apologize for anything. And although in going against the grain of the law he would be walking right ‘in the valley of the shadow of death’ as the Bible would say, yet he needs fear neither harm nor evil coming to him.

    Second Republic Governor of Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa, virtually said as much to the APC; and to President Buhari. So President Muhammadu Buhari should take a hint. Let your ‘righteousness’ exalt our ‘democracy’.

    ord Thomas Babington Macaulay, British author and historian, even at 24 had carved a niche for himself as an advocate for ‘good governance’. At 30 he was elected to parliament; but even at that, he did not believe ‘democracy’ was sufficiently self-regulating to be left all on its own to function. In fact, in a letter once to a Jefferson biographer, he jived the American Constitution as being “all sail and no anchor”.

    Lord Macaulay seemed to suggest that ‘democracy’ even as it is a guide, must be guided to achieve the effective management of the affairs of societies.  And just as it is dangerous for the ‘ship of democracy’ to be left anchorless, without harbour, so it is that it should be left adrift without a rudder!

    Many philosophers have argued that the ‘due democratic process’ alone may not always take democratic societies to the Eldorado promised by ‘democracy’, and that left on auto-pilot, the process may even be a ‘spanner’ in the works rather than the ‘lubricant’ at work to breathe life to the system.

    Thus a little moulding of the ‘democratic process’ by ‘public opinion’, some interference by the ‘party’ in loco parentis or even the occasional intervention of a fatherly-President, may be necessary from time to time to ease ‘swallow’ and to facilitate ‘digestion’ in the complex system of democratic governance.

    This may be why although Lord Macaulay was “against government by the sword”, yet he argued for “assertive -meaning ‘forcefully strong’- leadership”, which he said would be legitimate if it “earns the support of the people”. Thus ‘democracy’ –like ‘law’- is not averse to the application of reasonable ‘force’ where such is approved or condoned by the very ‘people’ in whom ultimate sovereignty lies.

    Meaning that a little tinkering -when necessary- with the ‘democratic process’ by political leaders imbued either with conventional or constitutional powers, is not the enemy of democracy. Rather it is democracy in action. And if backed by the very people for whom and by whom the democratic system is brought about, ‘democracy in action’ has the liberty to function even against the grain of ‘its own norms’, –whether those norms are enshrined in the ‘statute books’ or etched in political text of books!

    The ‘law’ –both in statute and in action- is only sufficient to regulate the conduct of elected representatives. It has never been sufficient to regulate the revolutionary or majoritarian temperament of the people who have freely elected their governments into office. The people can, even against the grain of law, re-mould, retain or altogether overthrow the governments they have elected to office!

    And since the people are their own ultimate sovereigns, they alone determine what is democratic from what is not. What is ‘democratic’ is not necessarily what Constitutional Law says it is or what political scientists say it should be; rather it is what the people chose to live with; – nor is it material that what they choose to live with is not approved by law or that what they choose to oppose is lawful.

    Said Lord Macaulay “The law has no eyes; the law has no hands; the law is nothing … till public opinion breathes the breath of life into the dead letter.” And maybe this is the reason philosophers of law like David Ingram argue that “Democratic majorities can (and do) behave tyrannically”, – a privilege which he said “has led many to conclude that democracy does not protect the rule of law”. It cannot; because the ‘free will’ of the people should always be superior to the letter and spirit of the law which it permits.

    The ‘rule of law’ is not to be protected in spite of the ‘will of the people’. On the contrary since laws are promulgated to serve the people, any laws inconsistent with the democratic whim and caprices of the people are sacred only to the extent allowed not by the Constitution, but by the people.

    I have related in my previous writings postulations which argue that “in a presidential system, the President –constitutionally- is not only a composite check on the legislature, he even exercises ‘conventional’ powers which are not contemplated by the constitution and yet which are not in conflict with it.”

    In fact many other postulates insist that a populist President can even get away with the exercise of conventional powers which are EXPRESSLY IN CONFLICT with the Constitution, provided that such liberty resonates with the whims and caprices of the people. He can for example blatantly refuse to implement a legislation which he has vetoed but which veto has been overridden by the legislature. Provided he acts in the national interest, the President’s belligerence would be aptly on the side of righteousness.

    And because this power is rooted more in ‘democratic convention’ than in the letters of the law, reliance on it is usually contingent upon a vibrant public opinion which not only sides with the President but which is ready to swim with him or to swing for him whenever necessary.  Several American presidents including as recently as Bill Clinton had deployed this conventional power to great effect to call especially erring parliaments to order –Clinton exercised this power even at the expense of a total shutdown of government of the United States for months under his administration. In fact in deference to the revolutionary anger of the people, a strong and daring President can even dissolve a manifestly anti-people Parliament –even though dissolution of parliament is not an action supported or even contemplated by the Constitution.

    The Adolphus Wabara National Assembly, after President Obasanjo announced in a national broadcast he had caught many of its leaders and rank-and-file red-handed in the infamous ‘Bribe-for-Budget’ scandal, was virtually ripe for such presidential over-kill, – if only Obasanjo had exploited the anger of Nigerians and the sudden dip in the public perception index of that assembly.

    And so since the law need not actually advance the common good to be legitimate, the morale is equally legitimate that elected presidents need not actually be lawful to advance the common good of those who elected them into office! “When the law will do no right” as Shakespeare wrote, “let it be lawful that the law bars no wrong”!

    In a presidential democracy, a president whose ‘unconstitutional’ actions or intentions are in total synch with the will of the majority needs not apologize for anything. And although in going against the grain of the law he would be walking right ‘in the valley of the shadow of death’ as the Bible would say, yet he needs fear neither harm nor evil coming to him.

    Second Republic Governor of Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa, virtually said as much to the APC; and to President Buhari. So President Muhammadu Buhari should take a hint. Let your ‘righteousness’ exalt our ‘democracy’.

    ‘In a presidential democracy, a president whose ‘unconstitutional’ actions or intentions are in total synch with the will of the majority needs not apologize for anything. And although in going against the grain of the law he would be walking right ‘in the valley of the shadow of death’ as the Bible would say, yet he needs fear neither harm nor evil coming to him’

  • Baraje’s tirade against Akande and Tinubu

    Albert Einstein it was, who posited that if an individual is persistently maligned or persecuted while on a salvaging mission, his traducers do so purely out of envy. To them the unattainable grape is sour. That may perhaps explain the recent tactless tirade by Abubakar Baraje, one of the defectors from the crisis-ridden Peoples Democratic Party, PDP made against revered APC chieftains in the persons of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the prime mover of the coalition of the progressive parties and Chief Bisi Akande  the former interim chairman of the APC. Baraje, we recall was amongst politicians who jumped ship to avoid being swallowed up by the then imminent electoral storm.

    By his political antecedents, Baraje like the current Senate President, Bukola Saraki cannot lay claim to any progressive political ideology. As hard core conservatives they have never been on the side of the people, but have always angled for power for self-serving reasons. Though he successfully ditched the PDP for the APC, Baraje thought, but erroneously so, that he could import that individualistic mindset against the sway of party supremacy that the progressive parties such as the CPC, ACN and ANPP have been known for.

    It is within this context that one could best situate his recent unfortunate remarks. Baraje, a former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), described as ‘unfortunate,’ a statement credited to the party’s former interim National Chairman, Chief  Bisi Akande, where he alleged that principal officers of the National Assembly enjoy the backing of some oil business interests and anti-Buhari elements.

    Baraje, in a press statement described Akande’s comments on the crisis as hypocrisy and reminded him of a meeting, which had an unnamed governor from the North-west and a leader of the party from the South-west and the latter was admonished about the crisis in the party.

    He also reminded Akande how he supported the governor against the South-west leader’s antics and described Akande’s statement as “fabrication.” Baraje said he was disappointed that Chief Akande, who had led the party and served as a governor, authored a statement where he sought to divide the nation by setting the North against the South-west.

    Baraje went further:”I do not know where Chief Akande and his cohorts are getting this unsubstantiated information they are circulating. We challenge them to provide proof and let Nigerians make their judgment…”

    “Akande and co believe that they have exclusive right to determine who occupies what position in today’s Nigeria and whoever tries to challenge their position must be subjected to savage attack in the media. That tactic is definitely undemocratic.

    ”My worry has been that President Buhari is being fed with lies and stories that are dangerous to the polity. My fears have now been confirmed with Akande’s statement. It is my prayer that the President should strengthen his information gathering network, so as to have a clear and true picture of what is happening. I am sure they just wanted to poison the minds of the people before that meeting. Akande sure does not want reconciliation and they already have an agenda they are pursuing. Yet, they accused others of different sins. We pray that reason will prevail and they will join others to move the party forward”, he said.

    But on his part, Akande has reiterated his position, based purely on the party’s supremacy. This was his response in a recent media interview, when asked why he considered Saraki and Dogara’s emergence as a rebellion.

    “The party took a position. They did a primary and somebody won. Anybody who goes against the democratic position of the party is rebellious. Don’t you see it as a rebellion? I know that Nigerians don’t know discipline anymore; everybody does things they way they like. You didn’t get there by yourself but by the grace of your party. That is why you can go to the party to say that I want to be this and they would say oh, they are many of you who want to too, come and do election. And somebody won and somebody stood by that person. Once you go against that party, you are committing rebellion. It is an act of indiscipline. I support all of them, they are my colleagues, but I don’t support indiscipline.”

    In another press interview he made a poignant observation. He described Senator Saraki and Honourable Dogara as being all out to foist the fortune of their former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on the new ruling party through their “rebellion” which, he said, killed the PDP.

    He said the backers of the “rebellion” as insinuated in his letter, which was made public on Monday, paled in comparison to the “criminal act” which, he said, the action of Saraki, Dogara and others against the party symbolised.

    “The cardinal thing I emphasised in that statement was discipline, obedience to your party. It is our party that made Saraki. He cannot disobey our party”.

    Viewed from a more holistic perspective therefore, it goes beyond Baraje’s assumption that Akande was setting the North against the South-west. His views are patriotic as it has to do with internal party democratic ideals based on discipline.

    Supporters of the rebellion are also at the heart of those accusing Tinubu of obsession with power and being over bearing. They are the ones wrongly accusing him of nominating 19 people as ministers, out of a possible 30. Unknown to Baraje and his cohorts, the duo of Tinubu and Akande have consistently been driven by the patriotic fervour, over the years to seek for what is best for the country. Tinubu, for instance has earned the accolade as a political strategist of no mean measure, across Nigeria’s quicksand political landscape. He was there as an enduring symbol fighting assiduously for the return of democracy during the dare-devil days of military dictatorship. Like other patriots he exhibited that uncommon courage to stand on the side of his people when it mattered most. He spent his money and provided logistic support during the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) days  to fund the famed Radio Kudirat against the Abacha regime.

    It would also be recalled that when the PDP rigging machinery bulldozed its way through those South-west, Asiwaju as the governor of Lagos State, the Centre of Excellence became the ‘last man standing’ in that ultimate battle for political survival.

    And he is still here now, standing tall as one of the few Nigerians who salvaged democracy from  the throes of annihilation. He could not stand aloof to watch Nigeria being besotted by storms of political ineptitude, cluelessness and crass corruption riding high on the wave crests of opportunism. Again, he stood up to  say a vehement “no” to it all.  Only a patriot would do that.

    His towering political stature still sends shock waves down the spine of crass political opportunists, especially those like Baraje and his co-travellers who love to reap where they never sowed.

    Empirical evidence abounds to show that he has been passionately propelled by the principles of equity, fairness, and justice all in the search for the common good. For that he has made a lot of sacrifice; of energy, time, resources and even his cherished freedom.

    Yet, he is most painfully being misconstrued as a self-serving politician. But this could not be true. Were it so, he would have been contented with being the chairman, Board of Trustees of the APC or its National Chairman, or put himself forward for a ministerial post. It should be noted that at no point in time has he ever vied for any of these plum political posts in AD, AC or ACN (all defunct).

    All said, Nigerians who massively voted APC for Change should be wary of politicians who find it difficult to subject themselves to party supremacy and discipline. And those, who defected from PDP to APC for self-serving reasons, wanting to dictate to the founding fathers of the APC.

    Chief Akande and Asiwaju Tinubu are absolutely right; only with discipline can the party fulfil its electoral promises to the people. The earlier the fair-weather politicians sacrifice their inordinate ambitions for the general good, the better for us all.

    ‘Nigerians who massively voted APC for change should be wary of politicians who find it difficult to subject themselves to party supremacy and discipline’

     

  • Oil is dead… What’s next?

    The price of oil is collapsing. Good.  Our revenue is dwindling. Very good. The Federal Government cannot disburse enough subventions to the states and local governments. Extremely good. The civil servants are planning to go on strike. Ex…cellent. Are you wishing for the collapse of the country? Nope. I am looking to its real rebirth. This might be God’s way of forcing us to tap into the resources that we have already been blessed with, including other natural, agricultural and abundant human resources.

    What was that you said? The civil servants are planning to go on strike. Really!  When they are not on strike and they are fully at work, what exactly is their contribution to the national economy?  The civil service has become more of a distribution channel for Abuja welfare package, earned from the sweat in Port Harcourt propped up by foreigners while importing our goodies from abroad via the channels of the Lagos ports of Tin Can and Apapa.

    To take out the petroleum sector of the economy, what exactly does the civil service primarily earn for Nigeria both at the national, state or local government levels? Apart from the Federal Inland Revenue Service – which is not money primarily made but collected by administrators from what has been earned – and the Customs and Excise – which is equally money collected from earnings that have taken place elsewhere – what other institutions make meaningful money for Nigeria with the petrochemical constituting seventy percent of our national revenue? Even our tax receipts recently released showed N756.7bn being earned with N368.59bn, representing 48.71 per cent generated through Petroleum Profit Tax coming from the petrochemical sector.  Basically, without the petrochemical sector and the tax receipts we also get from it, we are almost nothing.

    Once the money is earned, this is sent to the Abuja distribution centre before being forwarded to all tiers of government by the civil service.  All forms of contracts are offered for all and sundry by the very ingeniously administrative skills of the civil servants the end result of which is the importation via the Lagos ports. From this imported feeding frenzy is where the Customs and Excise makes its revenue and Lagos State feeds off the country’s imported consumption appetite. And this is the economy as administered by the civil servants with hardly anything of added value to the national economic grid.

    With the bounties coming in from the petrochemical sector drying up with nothing to do, we now know the emperors and empresses have no clothes on and we have been running an illusory economy.  The non-payment of salaries at the national, state or local level really illuminates their true economic worth to the nation.  They have been riding on the back-sweat of the private sector and the output of the foreigners in the petroleum sector who are the real earners propping up our economy.

    While they are playing out their administrative non-productivity, to digress a little since they are connected, their legislative political masters in the National Assembly find it wise in being unable to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) for years on end. The best they can offer the nation is a sham of rushing it through at the tail end of the last political dispensation. With esteemed fanciful speed and national interest, the legislators decided to pass this bill amongst a raft of non-productive asinine bills where their ‘leg is late’ in ever achieving anything of significance to the nation – stratospheric salaries and perks notwithstanding. At least they dress well. What is the return on investment of the whole non-productive assembly rightly car-plated NASS with ‘N’ representing non-productive personification at the highest level. Like master like servant.

    Where the civil service constitutes the largest bulk of employment in the country it demonstrates a classic illustration of abysmal national productivity.  The ideal ratio between the public and private sector should be 1:3 where every public servant that is employed means three private sector employees are in the economy. If we can achieve 1:4, then our efficiency must have progressed to the dreamy high heavens.

    To use my favourite state of example – Ekiti – as is typical of most states in the country is just a civil service state with dreamy hopes of ever being a viable state. Meanwhile it is one of the best subsistence yam producing states in the country with undoubtedly other agricultural products in the state.  What has happened to the state so far? There are roads and a highly educated population.  But are they able to generate any meaningful income for the state? Nope.  Education is of use when it is relevant to utilising the resources of the state not producing the students and most of them do not seek for employment in the state but go to Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt (LAP).  Apart from the occasional breezing in to say hello to relatives or their burials and traditional weddings, that is it.   Those who stay are in the education sector busy churning out more outbound LAP crew-oriented graduates or they end up in the civil service waiting for dispensation from Abuja.  The most honest accountable system with the best integrity of a system cannot shift this unproductive state of affairs to development without engaging the agricultural-cum-agro-allied businesses who offer the fastest means to employment, empowerment, state or local government revenue-generation with less dependence on Abuja for survival not to forget slowing or even reversing rural-urban migration nationwide.

    Any announcement for employment by the Immigration Department has now become the highlight of laying the foundation for national productivity. No problem, if the Immigration Department is able to make enough money for passport issuance to cover its operational and administrative existence.  If however, it is still demanding for subventions and allocations from the government, then that is typical of the consumption-oriented nature of the civil service as is representative of our national economic implementation…consume…consume and consume more.

    Civil servants should be remunerated on how many businesses they encourage to be set up in their locality not on how many they are able to get taxes from. Tie in the fate of the civil service with priority to revenue generation for the nation both locally and internationally rather than revenue collection and administration.  Civil servants should not domineeringly have the power to close down companies but judged by how many companies they provide advisory and practical assistance to set up, survive and thrive.  This will create a proactive civil service, streamline the service to only the elite intelligentsia of the society with a performance monitoring system in place that is easy to be monitored and those idle hands would find their way out. They do not need to be sacked, merged as is rightly recommended in many cases by the Orosanye Report nor would there be need to embark on any strikes.

    Let the oil dry up, then long may the country live on its other abundant resources of which human resources are not in short supply.

     

    •Dele Owolowo, author ‘Nigeria’s Odyssey…’, is an educationist, trainer and rural entrepreneur with widely travelled background. owolowo.dele@gmail.com

  • Imperatives of reforming the Land Use Act

    As state governors desperately look for ways to boost their internally generated revenue base, here’s a radical idea for them: Use whatever influence you have at the federal level to push for the removal of the Land Use Act from the constitution, then proactively support those working on getting that piece of legislation reformed, and allow their recommendations to be effectively implemented in your respective states.  With the current system, it is estimated that less than five per cent of housing units have formal title registration. Reforming the land management system will open up the possibility of bringing the remaining 95 per cent of existing housing into the formal title registration loop.

    There is a shortage of affordable housing in Nigeria. Some estimates say we need 14 to 17 million more units than what we currently have. Others say the figure is closer to 40 million. Either way, reforming the land management system will release the choke-hold on private sector urban housing developers who have the ingenuity and the energy to tackle the multimillion housing deficit, which the states’ housing corporations, the states’ ministries of housing and their federal counterparts, are trying valiantly to satiate. Think of what the states would gain directly in increased transaction volume through stamp duties, fees, PAYE, and indirectly through reduced unemployment, increased civic satisfaction and so on. This can be achieved if the bureaucracy is trimmed down, the response times are faster, the process is transparent and the per unit processing cost is reduced.

    Prior to the Land Use Decree of 1978, a dichotomous system prevailed in country. In Northern Nigeria, the land was vested to the governor who then apportioned or utilised it as he deemed fit. One could say it was a form of controlled socialism, in comparison to the free market system adopted in the South. In Southern Nigeria, other than areas selected for public purposes, land was owned by individuals or clans and passed along from one generation to the next. Permission however had to be sought from the governor before land rights could be assigned to aliens. In the absence of a formal titling and registration mechanism, the system in the South threw up endemic problems of multiple sales of the same parcel of land to various buyers. The South also experienced land speculation, problems with acquiring land for public purposes, exorbitant pricing, and the social malaise resulting from the accumulation of land by those who had unjustly dispossessed others of their property. The Land Use Decree was created ostensibly to solve these problems and to install one codified land administration system across the country.

    As can be imagined, the decree was not popular in the South. People accustomed to owning land were effectively turned to tenants via the wholesale transfer of land ownership rights to the governor, and compensation was only paid for developed land or agricultural land. The decree also empowered governors to issue Certificates of Occupancy which would allow the possessor to use a specific piece of land for a pre-defined period of time. And more importantly, the consent of the governor had to be given before any transfer or transaction could be done with the land, (including mortgages or assignments). This specific provision is one of the protagonists causing the current bottleneck in the mass housing industry. The potential quantum of paperwork that this must necessarily involve for a country with over 170 million citizens is mind-boggling. To expect all that paperwork to pass efficiently through the office of 36 people is unrealistic. It is a stumbling block to the proliferation of home ownership and it’s time to make a concerted effort to take the breaks off. In his essay, The Land Use Act: 11 Years After, Dr A. Nnamani, who was the Attorney-General of the Federation in 1978 said, “It seems to me that it is not healthy for the economy that the Governor’s Office should be flooded with these applications for consent.” We should not sacrifice efficiency on the altar of control.ý

    The Land Use Decree was inserted into the 1979 and 1999 constitutions, to make it difficult for it to be revised or repealed. In 2009, President Umaru Yar’Adua established the Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reform and gave it the task of finding a better way for the country to handle the administration and recording of land ownership, the issuance of titles and the process for registration, as well as other land-related matters.  Professor Akin Mabogunje, the 2009-2011 Chairman of the Committee, described the Land Use Act as “a clog in the wheel of development”.  The Mabogunje Report states that “Although the decree has made it easy for governments to acquire land for public purposes, drastically minimised the burden of land compensation and considerably reduced court litigations over land, it has, since its inception…created a new genre of serious problems for land management in the country.” The report goes on to list at least nine of these problems and in 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan directed the committee to look into the practicalities of reforming the Land Use Act.

    According to the Managing Director of Crusader Sterling Pensions Niyi Falade, “the Nigerian housing sector is currently valued at N6.5 trillion with an annual growth estimation of 10 per cent over the next few years.” Trying to benefit from the untapped potential in the real estate and construction industry without reforming the Land Use Act is like trying to drive a Ferrari with the hand brakes on. Yes, the vehicle will move but its progress will be hampered. Reforming (or, as some would say, repealing) the Land Use Act would be a catalyst for the development of affordable housing on a mass scale.

    However, let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water. There are some redeeming features of the Act. Let’s hold on to those while revising the ones that need revising. Updating the Land Use Act will certainly assist in taking us from where we are to where we want to be. It is one of several tipping points available to us as a country for moving millions of people out of poverty. Currently, close to 85 per cent of urbanites live in rented accommodation which swallows up as much as 40 per cent of their salary, if not more. The need for reasonably-priced housing is further compounded by urban migration. People, mainly young adults, are moving out from rural areas into the cities. The population in Abuja is estimated as growing by nine per cent every year. In Lagos, the estimate is three per cent each year. Where will they live? Where will they work?

    At a real estate forum in 2015, the CEO of Lead Capital Abimbola Olashore estimated that the production of just 75,000 homes per year would create “at least 300,000 direct jobs and 488,000 indirect jobs.” Assuming the housing deficit is 17 million units, we would need to build 850,000 units per year for the next 20 years, ceteris paribus. Overhaul the Land Use Act. Unleash the real estate sector. Let the multiplier effect go to work on the economy.

    • Ms. Aboderin is a member of the Institute of Directors.

  • Of ambition and destruction: Truncating the “change” we desire

    On June 9, Bukola Saraki and his co-travellers, including his former friends in the PDP, executed their plan to acquire the Senate presidency and the Speakership of the House of Representatives. In an apparently well choreographed move, Saraki along with some APC mutineers joined the PDP senators and elected Saraki as the Senate President and Ike Ekweremadu of the PDP as Deputy Senate President contrary to the APC’s well-publicized preference for Ahmed Lawan and George Akume. Once the Senate coup was executed, the House of Representatives followed; it elected another PDP turncoat called Yakubu Dogara as the Speaker of the House of Representatives also against the party’s preference for Femi Gbajabiamila and Tahir Monguno.

    In yet another big slap on the face of his party, Bukola Saraki in a letter dated June 25 to the chairman of APC relied on some arcane recently conjured Senate standing rules to justify his continued defiance of the party’s preference. He said his “hands were tied” by Senate standing rules, which prevented him from acting on APC’s preferred candidates for the senate principal offices. He then went on to pledge loyalty to President Buhari etc.

    This letter was yet another example of a self-serving attempt by Saraki to defy the same party that gave him a ticket to run. Again Yakubu Dogara and his supporters took cue and engineered the disruption of the sitting of the House of Representatives thereby truncating the adoption of the APC’s preferred candidates for the principal offices in the House of Representatives.

    The APC Constitution anticipated this level of treachery and disloyalty and made copious provisions. Article 21 (A)(i,ii,iii,vii), (B)(i&ii), D(i,f,g,h & ii) of the APC constitution comes readily to mind here:

    Article 21 lists the offences against the Party as including the following:

    i. A breach of any provision of this Constitution;

    ii. Anti-Party activities or any conduct, which is likely to embarrass or have adverse effect on the party or bring the party into hatred, contempt, ridicule or disrepute;

    iii. Disobedience or negligence in carrying out lawful directives of the Party;

    vii. Flouting the rules, regulations and decisions of the Party; engaging in dishonest practices, thuggery, continuously being absent from meetings to which he/she is invited without reasonable cause; carrying out anti-Party or other activities which tend to disrupt the peaceful, lawful and efficient organization of the Party or which are inconsistent with the Aims and Objectives of the Party;

    In the same manner, Article 21 B (i and ii) establishes the disciplinary procedure:

    i. A complaint by any Member of the Party against a Public Office holder, elected or appointed, or another member or against a Party organ or officer of the Party shall be submitted to the Executive Committee of that Party at all levels concerned which shall NOT LATER THAN 7 days of the receipt of the complaint, appoint a fact-finding or Disciplinary Committee to examine the matter.

    ii. The Executive Committee concerned shall not debate or discuss the complaint or allegation before sending it to the Disciplinary Committee or fact-finding

    Committee which shall hear, determine and cause its decision to be transmitted to the relevant Executive Committees of the Party concerned.

    Section D spells out the PUNISHMENT for ERRING MEMBERS thus:

    i. The Party shall have power to impose the following sanctions on members in accordance with the nature and gravity of their offence:

    Reprimand;

    b) Censure;

    c) Fine;

    d) Debarment from holding Party Office;

    e) Removal from Party Office;

    f) Suspension from the Party;

    g) Expulsion from the Party;

    h) Debarment from contesting Office on the Party platform.

    ii. Where it is proposed to expel a member of the Executive Committee, political office holder, or a member of a Legislative House from membership of the Party, such a proposal shall be submitted to the National Executive Committee, which after deliberations on the matter may confirm or reject the proposal;

    iii. A decision to expel a Member of the Party taken or confirmed by the National Executive Committee shall be submitted to the Board of Trustees for ratification;

    iv. The National Executive Committee shall on receipt of the report of the fact- finding committee make a decision on the matter within fourteen (14) days;

    v. Any member who files an action in court of law against the party or any of its officers on any matter or matters relating to the discharge of the duties of the party without first exhausting the avenues for redress provided for in this Constitution shall automatically stand expelled from the Party on filing such action and no appeal against expulsion as stipulated in this Clause shall be entertained until the withdrawal of the action from Court by the Member;

    vi. Each organ of the Party shall have power to remove a Party officer or officers as the case may be from office at that level for failing to discharge his/her responsibilities, neglect and dereliction of duty or misconduct during his tenure of office through a vote of no confidence passed against such officer/officers by a two-thirds majority of the members of the appropriate organ and voting subject to such officer’s right to fair hearing.

    It is clear from the above provisions that Bukola Saraki, Yakubu Dogara and their co-travellers have crossed the “red line” and need to be sanctioned very quickly to prevent the dissolution of the APC.  The mutineers are clearly caught by the provisions of Article 21 (a) i, ii & iii); the disciplinary procedures leading to expulsion from the party must be immediately followed to bring sanity and discipline to the party.

    What happens when the culprits are expelled from the party? The renegades will have the option of defecting to another party and invoking section 68 of the 1999 constitution to prevent their seats from being declared vacant claiming that the party is in crisis.

    Will the PDP accept them in order to swell their ranks and claim majority in the Senate and House of Representatives? If they do will they allow them to retain their Presidency and Speakership or will David Mark and other carpetbaggers re-emerge to truncate the change we desired? Will Saraki, Dogara and their shadowy sponsors and co-travelers float another party to split the APC for the benefit of the PDP?  Will they go to court to stall their expulsion and create a “Chinese standoff”?

    Will Saraki’s sins be resurrected in order to whip him in line? Will the APC close ranks and vote Ekweremadu out as Deputy Senate President? Will Buhari change his principle of non-interference? Will a new crisis be resurrected in the PDP? Will APC receive new defectors from the resurrected PDP crisis in order to checkmate Saraki and others? Will Saraki and others prevail; defy the party and cause John Oyegun’s removal?

    Is Saraki’s real aim the takeover of the party machinery at the national level? Is Buhari’s anti-corruption stance the real target of Saraki and his co-travelers?

    These questions and many more need to be answered very quickly or we shall be looking at the complete disintegration of the party known as APC.  What then becomes of the dreams of patriots like Ogbonaya Onu, Bisi Akande, Muhammadu Buhari, Nasir El Rufai, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Rochas Okorocha, Kayode Fayemi, Audu Ogbeh, Aminu Masari , John Oyegun Chris Ngige and several others who fought for change on the platform of the APC ?

    In this unfolding sad movie Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara are the villains and no amount of whitewash can turn them into heroes in the eyes of the APC faithful. They betrayed the party and are well on their way to truncating the change we desire.

  • Obajana: When suffering is unnecessary

    A multinational corporation is a large firm that has operations in more than one country. MNCs have been the main source of a debate which has been waged since the early 1960s. There are two clear sides to the debate. The first suggests that the only social responsibility of business is to increase profits. The second sees businesses as an instrument to create social value. Regardless of the status of the debate, multinational corporations are finding themselves under pressure from both internal and external groups to participate in non-profit roles in order to benefit society.

    The most avid supporter of the argument against businesses and multinational corporations having non-profit roles in society is Milton Friedman, who claims that the only social responsibility of a business is to increase its profits. A good example of MNCs which appears to have adopted the view of Friedman is Dangote Cement, Obajana, Kogi State.

    For many Nigerians, Alhaji Aliko Dangote symbolises the promise of Nigeria.He has built a conglomerate which is today standing on the world stage. No matter how one tries, it is difficult not to use a Dangote product directly or indirectly. Whether it is noodles, salt, industrial sugar, rice or the biggest of them all, cement, the Dangote imprint is every where. It is not possible for anyone who has done this not to be the richest man in Africa. And going by the speed with which he opens cement factories across Africa – the latest being in Ethiopia – Dangote may soon become the world’s largest individual producer of cement if he has not achieved that yet.

    Dangote’s Obajana Cement factory is the largest cement factory in sub-Saharan Africa. Though it was incorporated in 1992, it was in 2012 that it was commissioned by former President Goodluck Jonathan. Obajana has 13.25mt of capacity across four lines, the newest of which was commissioned in late 2014. Obajana uses gas for its kilns and power plants and until late 2014, relied on low-pour fuel oil as a back-up fuel for its kilns. In November 2014 the company commissioned a coal mill to serve Line 3 and it is currently installing coal mills to serve Lines 1, 2 and 4.

    To ensure that power does not hinder the company’s operations, Dangote Cement generates 1,000mw of electricity. This is well in excess of what the company requires to run operations.

    From the foregoing, Obajana should be the envy of all other communities. The people should count themselves lucky that they have limestone in abundance, their own solid gold.

    But it doesn’t appear that the people are willing to relive the experience if given a choice. It is an experience that has left a sour taste in their mouths.

    The people of Obajana have been keeping quiet hoping that the various meetings they have been holding with management of the company would yield fruit. But it appears their patience is running out. As far back as April 1, 2012, indigenes of Obajana resident in Abuja held a meeting and urged the government and the management of Obajana Cement Factory to provide basic amenities for inhabitants of the community.

    The convener of the meeting, Alhaji Tajudeen Bisimilahi, was reported to have said the meeting was convened to address challenges being faced by the people of Obajana.  A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting read: “Dangote Cement Company should respect the term of agreement signed with the state government, which entails the dualisation of the Lokoja—Obajana and Kabba Road. The company should make provision for houses, electricity, water, roads, health facilities for the people of Obajana and also pay adequate compensation and relocate those living close to the production site, to avoid undue health hazards posed by chemical emission and pollution during cement production…We ask that meaningful measure be urgently implored to avert uproar of youth restiveness in the area.”

    It is important to quote a report by Business World newspaper of June 15: “A visit to the community revealed that contrary to what most people outside the community have been made to believe, the company’s corporate social responsibility initiative has failed to address the basic needs and key demands of the people of Obajana. According to the youth leader of Obajana community, Comrade Bamidele Adeyanju, it is painful that after about nine years of operation, the community is still languishing in poverty.

    He went on: ‘As far as I know, if any company is investing in any community, it is duty bound to at least provide the basic social amenities that are lacking in such a community. These amenities include good roads, potable water, electricity, hospitals, schools, youth and women empowerment etc. The non-provision of these basic amenities has caused as so much pain and distress to us. We have suffered so much deprivation and environmental degradation since this factory was established in our community. We are extremely sad with the turnout of events in Obajana, our community especially the way the management of Dangote Cement Factory is treating our case.’”

    It is important for the Dangote Group to realise that CSR is not just the business of the future but the business of today. A socially irresponsible company will soon find out that when the bubble bursts, it will begin to spend huge sums of money trying to buy or achieve peace and tranquillity necessary for it to be in business. That may be costlier than the token required to give a host community electricity, education for their children, water, jobs, etc.

    It is not for nothing that the owner of the Dangote Group is today the richest person in Africa. It is important, in fact imperative that his corporation embraces the concept of non-profit role in some form or the other. Whether the aim is to improve the standards of living, fight hunger, cure diseases or even just to increase long-run profits through company image, the benefits of corporate social responsibility vastly outweigh the negative impacts of being exposed as socially irresponsible like oil producing companies that are routinely at loggerheads with their host communities in the Niger Delta. Whenever he decides that his company becomes socially responsible, Obajana, where he makes the most money is where to begin.

     

    • Agada is a business development executive based in Abuja